Making Oxford & Reading more accessible from the North

[fishwomp]

Oxford – Manchester's 2:50 directly; via OOC, assuming a 15 minute change / wait, it would have been under the two hour mark with phase 2. Even phase 1 should make Oxford – OOC – Manchester ~2:25. That would probably be even more so the case if HS2 services to Liverpool and Scotland run, given the additional time of waiting at Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton, Crewe etc.

Uh? Phase 1 is 101 min from Euston, so let's say 90 mins from OOC. Add the 1hr of travel to OOC + connection - that's 2h30.

Or, instead you do 1h to Birmingham International, and _then_ wait 15 mins, and then catch the Manchester Handsacre (Brum and Wolves avoider) - the HS2 train is 35 mins closer to Manchester, so that journey time must be 55 mins from BHI. 1h + 20 connection + 55 == 2h15. So, remind me why I'd go to OOC?

Coventry – Wolverhampton, Stafford, Stoke and Manchester's below 400 passengers per day (around half of that to Wolverhampton), below 100 from Leamington Spa and not much higher from Oxford or Reading (but with more demand for Oxford to Liverpool and Edinburgh than from Leamington Spa). Birmingham International – Wolverhampton, Stoke, Stafford, Stockport and Manchester's the same but slightly higher than Coventry (~400 passengers per day combined with the majority of that to Wolverhampton, and with COV / BHI – WVH having Avanti / TfW and more frequent services from Birmingham as well).

A faster journey time at a reasonable fare generates more traffic. That M6 and M40 sure looks busy.

 

[A S Leib]

Uh? Phase 1 is 101 min from Euston, so let's say 90 mins from OOC. Add the 1hr of travel to OOC + connection - that's 2h30.

How is that substantially different to what I said (that phase 1 should make Oxford – OOC – Manchester ~2:25)?

Or, instead you do 1h to Birmingham International, and _then_ wait 15 mins, and then catch the Manchester Handsacre (Brum and Wolves avoider) - the HS2 train is 35 mins closer to Manchester, so that journey time must be 55 mins from BHI. 1h + 20 connection + 55 == 2h15.

If it remains the case that only 1 Manchester tph calls at Birmingham Interchange and there's only 1 tph from Oxford to Birmingham International, a 20 minute wait would probably be optimistic. The official connection time between King's Cross and St. Pancras is 31 minutes and that's between stations which don't need an automated people mover between them. A connection time of above 30 minutes would likely make going via Old Oak Common quicker.

So, remind me why I'd go to OOC?

As much as there are parts of Acton few people would probably want to wait in, that's a weirdly aggressive way of putting it.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

I wonder if, with a bit of jiggling of paths, you could link up the existing Leamington-Nuneaton service with the Banbury to Oxford/Didcot stoppers (making the latter a proper hourly service all day).
Obviously a non-starter with the two services currently run by separate TOCs, but maybe once GBR becomes one big happy family, it might be more practical, especially if you could run it with 4 car DMUs.

It wouldn't be the fastest trip due to all the station calls, but it would provide more direct journey opportunities from Oxford to the North and potentially ease some pressure on XC and Birmingham New St.
You probably wouldn't be able to abstract through Oxford-Manchester traffic (except by some keenly priced Advance/route-specific fares), but for destinations like Tamworth, Leicester, Crewe, Peterborough, Cambridge etc, it'd still be a single change from Oxford and you get to avoid New Street and overcrowded Voyagers!

 

[Mgameing123]

I wonder if, with a bit of jiggling of paths, you could link up the existing Leamington-Nuneaton service with the Banbury to Oxford/Didcot stoppers (making the latter a proper hourly service all day).
Obviously a non-starter with the two services currently run by separate TOCs, but maybe once GBR becomes one big happy family, it might be more practical, especially if you could run it with 4 car DMUs.

It wouldn't be the fastest trip due to all the station calls, but it would provide more direct journey opportunities from Oxford to the North and potentially ease some pressure on XC and Birmingham New St.
You probably wouldn't be able to abstract through Oxford-Manchester traffic (except by some keenly priced Advance/route-specific fares), but for destinations like Tamworth, Leicester, Crewe, Peterborough, Cambridge etc, it'd still be a single change from Oxford and you get to avoid New Street and overcrowded Voyagers!

Question is how will the service path in with all the fast trains on the Chiltern Line. Not all trains stop at Kings Sutton.

 

[The Planner]

I wonder if, with a bit of jiggling of paths, you could link up the existing Leamington-Nuneaton service with the Banbury to Oxford/Didcot stoppers (making the latter a proper hourly service all day).
Obviously a non-starter with the two services currently run by separate TOCs, but maybe once GBR becomes one big happy family, it might be more practical, especially if you could run it with 4 car DMUs.

It wouldn't be the fastest trip due to all the station calls, but it would provide more direct journey opportunities from Oxford to the North and potentially ease some pressure on XC and Birmingham New St.
You probably wouldn't be able to abstract through Oxford-Manchester traffic (except by some keenly priced Advance/route-specific fares), but for destinations like Tamworth, Leicester, Crewe, Peterborough, Cambridge etc, it'd still be a single change from Oxford and you get to avoid New Street and overcrowded Voyagers!

The GW service doesnt have a proper standard pattern. For example to marry up the 1342 southbound departure, it appears it might work by extending the 1316 arrival at Leamington, but you catch up with a freight but you need to slightly retime the 1339 Chiltern to Marylebone and then depart after it. Northbound the 1322 arrival could depart at 1323, and would likely need to add a minute or two into the 1340 departure from Leamington. I doubt a 2 car would cut it either.